seven::twentythree

What signs do we want today?
The death of an enemy is no longer a sign
but a fact of life
scrolling on the bottom of a news channel's portal.
I shiver thinking of the years, though,
when such deaths were still signs
and Psalms were chanted
from the Exodus and the Psalter
from the lips of western powers.
You were never enslaved
except by power.
Israelite demand of a sign.
The Assyrians saw and wept.
The southern queen conceived her sorrows.
Something greater than victory is now.
It is fermenting and active
and death no longer feeds its life.
We can even escape the enemies reach
without their own demise.
If you would, listen,
No sign will be given
except that one that already has.
You people of the Southern states, listen,
and the North, open your bloody hearts.
The sign has already been given
and your buildup is simply
your destruction and crying over death in the desert.
I shudder for judgment
and so I don't pronounce it,
yet if I could be a mouthpiece,
if I could be your sign,
for your life,
I would.

(Exodus 14:5-18, Exodus 15:1-6, Matthew 12:38-42)